Wells Fargo to place limit on subprime auto loans, NY Times reportsWells Fargo has decided to limit the dollar volume of its subprime auto loans to 10% of its overall auto loan originations, bank executives said, according to The New York Times. Reference Link

Fed extends capital surcharge for SiFi banks comment period to April 3The Federal Reserve extended until April 3 the comment period for its proposed rule to implement capital surcharges for the largest, most systemically important U.S. bank holding companies. The Fed extended the comment period to allow interested persons more time to analyze the issues and prepare their comments. Originally, comments were due by March 2. The proposed rule would establish a methodology to identify whether a firm is a global systemically important banking organization and would also establish the size of a firm's risk-based capital surcharge. The proposal is designed to further strengthen the capital positions of these institutions. Large U.S. banks include Bank of America (BAC), Citi (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), U.S. Bancorp (USB) and Wells Fargo (WFC).

Barclays to double provision for forex rigging fines, Sky News saysBarclays (BCS), which previously excluded itself from a broader settlement between several banking peers and regulators over alleged manipulation of foreign exchange rates as it worked to secure a binding agreement with all relevant authorities, will more than double its existing provision for forex fines next week, which may indicate that a settlement deal could be announced soon, said Sky News. Barclay took a GBP500M charge during the course of last year in advance of expected forex issue costs, the report noted. Other banks that previously agreed to a settlement included Bank of America (BAC), Citibank (C), HSBC (HSBC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), RBS (RBS) and UBS (UBS). The report indicates that U.S. regulators have stepped up talks with banks including Barclays and the others involved. Reference Link

EU official: Euro banks shouldn't also go through Fed's stress test, WSJ saysJonathan Hill, the European Unionís new financial markets chief, told The Wall Street Journal that he does not see a need for the U.S. to give stress tests to European banks that have already received health checks in Europe. Hill says banks across Europe are "properly and sensibly capitalized." The WSJ reported last week that the U.S. units of two European banks, Deutsche Bank (DB) and Banco Santander (SAN), are set to fail the Federal Reserve's stress tests, though they passed ECB stress tests last year. Reference Link

Banks probed for possible rigging of precious metals markets, WSJ reportsOfficials in the U.S. are investigating at least 10 major banks for potential rigging of precious-metals markets, sources tell The Wall Street Journal. The DOJ's antitrust unit are investigating the price-setting process for gold, silver, palladium and platinum in London, while the CFTC has begun a civil investigation, with both agencies making requests for information, including a subpoena to HSBC (HSBC) from the CFTC. According to a source, Credit Suisse (CS), JP Morgan (JPM), UBS (UBS), Societe Generale (SCGLY), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS), Barclays (BCS), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Deutsche Bank (DB) are also under investigation. Reference Link

S&P reportedly says Greece contagion not a major risk, Reuters reportsThe risk of contagion spreading from Greece to other European countries is not that large, a German newspaper quoted S&P's chief sovereign ratings officer as saying, according to Reuters. The euro zone would be able to handle an exit of the bloc by Greece, the ratings officer was quoted as saying, Reuters reported. Publicly traded European banks include Banco Santander (SAN), Barclays (BCS), Credit Suisse (CS), Deutsche Bank (DB), HSBC (HSBC), ING Groep (ING), Lloyds Banking (LYG), RBS (RBS) and UBS (UBS). Reference Link